F Ine J Udaica
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F INE J UDAICA . THE LIBRARY OF THE LATE PROFESSOR ABRAHAM J. KARP K ESTENBAUM & C OMPANY TUESDAY, APRIL 5TH, 2005 K ESTENBAUM & COMPANY . Auctioneers of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Fine Art Professor Abraham J. Karp (1921-2003) Catalogue of F INE J UDAICA . THE LIBRARY OF THE LATE PROFESSOR ABRAHAM J. KARP And The Remaining Books & Manuscripts from the Estate of a Veteran New York Antiquarian Hebrew Book-Seller. With Additions; Paintings & other Graphic Art To be Offered for Sale by Auction on Tuesday, 5th April, 2005 at 3:00 pm precisely ——— Viewing Beforehand on Sunday, 3rd April: 10:00 am–5:30 pm Monday, 4th April: 10:00 am–6:00 pm Tuesday, 5th April: 10:00 am–2:30 pm A Digital Image of Many Lots Offered in This Sale is Available Upon Request This Sale may be referred to as “Hampstead” Sale Number Twenty Eight. Illustrated Catalogues: $35 • $42 (Overseas) KESTENBAUM & COMPANY Auctioneers of Rare Books, Manuscripts and Fine Art . 12 West 27th Street, 13th Floor, New York, NY 10001 • Tel: 212 366-1197 • Fax: 212 366-1368 E-mail: [email protected] • World Wide Web Site: www.Kestenbaum.net K ESTENBAUM & COMPANY . Chairman: Daniel E. Kestenbaum Operations Manager : Margaret M. Williams Client Accounts: S. Rivka Morris Press & Public Relations: Jackie Insel Printed Books, Manuscripts & Autographed Letters: Rabbi Eliezer Katzman Rabbi Bezalel Naor Ceremonial Art: Aviva J. Hoch (Consultant) Catalogue Art Director & Photographer: Anthony Leonardo Auctioneer: Harmer F. Johnson (NYCDCA License no. 0691878) ❧ ❧ ❧ For all inquiries relating to this sale please contact: Daniel E. Kestenbaum ❧ ❧ ❧ ORDER OF SALE Printed Books: Lots 1 - 303 Autographed Letters & Manuscripts: Lots 304 - 325 Graphic Arts: Lots 326 - End of Sale Front Cover Illustration: The Tanya, First Edition. Slavata, 1796. Lot 106 Back Cover Illustration: Solomon N. Carvalho, Moses Before the Amalakites. Oil on board. (c. 1848) Lot 326 A list of prices realized will be posted on our Web site, www.kestenbaum.net a few days following the sale. Abraham J. Karp (1921-2003) Historian, bibliophile, rabbi, and beloved teacher, Abraham Joseph Karp was one of the giants of the world of the Jewish Book and a pioneering scholar of the field of American Jewish history. Born in Indura, Poland, on April 5th, 1921, Karp was brought to the United States in 1930. He graduated from the Teachers Institute of the Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in New York in 1939, and went on to receive a B.A from Yeshiva University in 1942, graduating magna cum laude. His rabbinical ordination was conferred on him in 1945 by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he was also awarded a Masters in Hebrew Literature in 1948, and an honorary doc- torate in 1971. He served as a congregational rabbi in Kansas City from 1951 to 1956, and in Rochester, New York, at Temple Beth El from 1956 to 1971. During his student years at the Seminary, Karp came under the lasting tutelage of Alexander Marx, bibliographer of Judaica par excellence, who set him to work cataloging the distinguished personal library of Professor Ismar Elbogen. Karp acquired a profound and lifelong love for Jewish books and Judaica of all kinds. His personal collection, the joyous harvest of decades of devoted collect- ing, consisted of many thousands of printed books and manuscripts. His collection of American Judaica, today held at the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, is perhaps the finest private collection of its kind ever assembled. Karp’s collection, and his passion for collecting, became a foundation of his career as a historian. In studying history, Karp emphasized the primary source above all others as the most reliable wit- ness to the past. Each book, each manuscript letter, each newspaper clipping, each scrap of historical evidence he could find became in his hands a kind of detective trail that invariably pro- duced new and significant discoveries. He authored a seminal work about Jacob Joseph, New York’s first Chief Rabbi, was among the first to study Mordecai Manuel Noah in any real depth, and his basic research on the American Synagogue and the American Jewish prayer book was ground- breaking. Perhaps the culmination of his career as a collector and historian was realized when he was invited to curate an exhibition of the Judaica collections at the Library of Congress. The pro- ject blossomed into a classic, authoritative, bibliophilic treasure entitled From the Ends of the Earth (1991), characterized by carefully selected visual artifacts, elegantly written prose and beauti- ful final production quality. Karp held a number of academic positions, including a professorship of history and religion at the University of Rochester, from 1972 until 1991. He also taught as a visiting professor at Dartmouth College and at the JTS. Karp frequently visited Israel, and served three times as visiting professor of American Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute for Contemporary Jewry. He retired as the Phillip S. Bernstein Professor Emeritus of Jewish Studies at the University of Rochester and moved to Riverdale, New York, in 1991 to serve as the Joseph and Rebecca Mitchell Adjunct Research Professor of American Jewish History and Bibliography at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, until his death on November 24th, 2003. In addition to his academic life, Karp also was dedicated to Jewish communal service. He was elect- ed president of the American Jewish Historical Society from 1972 to 1975, and for many years served on the publications committee of the Jewish Publication Society of America, as well as on a variety of editorial and executive boards and advisory councils. Karp was the recipient of numerous honors, including the Lee M. Friedman Medal from the AJHS, and received an honorary doctorate from Gratz College in 1985. He authored, co-authored, and edited more than twenty books and over fifty articles, encyclopedia entries, and reviews. Among his best know works are his five edited volumes, The American Jewish Experience (1969), Beginnings: Early American Judaica (1975), Golden Door to America (1977), Haven and Home (1985), The Jews in America: A Treasury of Art and Literature (1994), and Jewish Continuity in America (1998). Karp frequently spoke about “squeezing” every detail out of a historical source and indeed, the same could be said about his zest for life. Abraham Joseph Karp lived with remarkable energy and passion. His memory surely will be for a blessing. Arthur Kiron Curator of Judaica Collections at the University of Pennsylvania Library. (Reprinted from: Perspectives, Newsletter of the Association of Jewish Studies, Fall/Winter, 2004). A selection of books from the Karp Library FINE JUDAICA: The Library of the Late Professor Abraham J. Karp (with additions) — PRINTED BOOKS — 1. AARON BEN SAMUEL. Beith Aharon [index to Biblical passages explained in Talmudic, Midrashic and later Rabbinic literature]. FIRST EDITION. Title has vignettes of Aaron the Priest and Samuel the Prophet ( an allusion to the author’s name). The woodcuts are done in the manner of folk art and signed “F Z.” Divisional titles for Torah, Nevi’im, Kethuvim. ff. 2, 2, 178. (f. 86 duplicated). Browned throughout. Recent calf-backed boards, spine distressed. Folio. [Vinograd, Frankfurt on the Oder 41]. Frankfurt on the Oder, Johann Christoph Beckmann: 1690. $200-300 ❧ The author viewed his work as a continuation of the earlier work, Toldoth Aharon, by Aaron of Pesaro. Whereas Toldoth Aharon provided only Talmudic references, in Beith Aharon the scope was broadened to include Midrashic and Kabbalistic literature as well. 2. AARON BERACHIAH BEN MOSES OF MODENA. Ma’avar Yabok [prayers for the sick and dead]. Third edition. Title within typographic border. Tailpieces. Wide-margined copy. ff. (4), 228. ff. 41-44 loose. Lightly stained and foxed. Original calf, worn. 4to. [Vinograd, Amsterdam 1398]. Amsterdam, Solomon Proops: 1732. $300-500 ❧ The author (d. 1639), was a follower of the Lurianic Kabbalah as transmitted to Italian scholars by the mysterious figure R. Israel Sarug. R. Chaim Joseph David Azulai attests that he saw several kabbalistic man- uscripts of R. Aaron Berechiah in the Modena home of his descendants, members of the Sanguinetti family. Azulai goes on to say he heard the author was visited regularly by a Maggid or celestial guide. Azulai, Shem ha-Gedolim I, A-121; EJ, Vol. II, col. 18; Vol. XIV, col. 890. 1 3. ABRABANEL, DON ISAAC. Perush Nevi’im Rishonim [commentary to Former Prophets]. FIRST EDITION. Printed without a title page. Four-piece white-on-black woodcut border of Renaissance ornament on f. 2 (cf. Haberman, Sha’arei Sepharim Ivri’im pl.17). Letters of opening words within white on black decorative vignettes. The Elkan Nathan Adler Copy. Ex-library. Few light stains in places, otherwise a good copy. 18th-century morocco-backed speckled boards, rubbed. Folio. [Vinograd, Pesaro 29; Mehlman 64; not in Adams. JNUL records a handful of copies contain a half-tile that reads “Sepher Yehoshu’a Im Perush Abrabanel.”]. Pesaro, Gershom Soncino: 1511. $15,000-20,000 ❧ Abrabanel endeavors to explain the general content of the Bible, its principles, views and moral teach- ings more than the actual meaning of the words and passages. Primarily a philosophical, theological, ethical and to some extent historical commentary, his method as an exegete is entirely novel, prefacing each section of each book with a number of questions and then interpreting that section in such a manner as to gradually resolve them. He divided each book in his own way, according to the individual logical sub- jects treated, without attention to the traditional division. Thus, in the Book of Joshua he discerns sixteen divisions instead of twenty-four; in The Book of Judges, twelve instead of twenty-one and in both Books of Samuel, which he treats as one, twenty-five instead of fifty-five traditional divisions.